50 



ON THE GEOGRAPHY OP ANIMALS. 



have suggested a less barbarous designation than 

 <( Felis Leo Goojratensis." The species of Rhinoceros 

 of these continents are known to be distinct ; yet the 

 jackal of Southern India and of Africa seem to be 

 the same. The more ferocious quadrupeds, generally 

 denominated tigers, are much less abundant on this con- 

 tinent, as regards species, than either in Africa or 

 America. Yet, unfortunately, their numerical amount 

 is unquestionably much greater. The Once ( Felis undo), 



from being found 

 on the high moun- 

 tains of Persia, 

 is probably more 

 characteristic of 

 Central Asia ; 

 while the true 

 tiger (Felis Ti- 

 gris, jig. 14.) is 

 most abundant in 

 the low jungles 

 of Hindostan, and the humid forests of Sumatra. The 

 Asiatic tiger-cats appear restricted to the larger islands : 

 none of the species occur in Africa. 



(68.) The ornithological peculiarities of the Asiatic 

 range are fully developed in Southern India, more par- 

 ticularly in Malacca, and those islands immediately ad- 

 joining the southern extremity of the continent. In 

 some instances, there is a marked similarity between the 

 groups of Tropical Asia and those of Equinoctial Africa ; 

 while in others the differences are very great. This 

 comparison will tend much to illustrate this part of 

 our subject. 



(69.) Among those families of birds concentrated in 

 Southern Asia, but which appear also, under the form 

 of other species, to be distributed in Africa, are the 

 Drongo shrikes (Edolius Cuv.), the caterpillar-catchers 

 (Ceblepyres Cuv.), the true flycatchers with long tails, 

 typically represented by the paradise flycatcher (Mus- 

 cicupa paradisea), the beautiful parrot-plumaged barbuts 



